''Macbeth'' is a silent Italian 1909 film adaptation of the

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

play ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

''. It was the second ''Macbeth'' film released that year (released on 27 November 1909), and is the third film version of the play. The film was directed by Mario Caserini, and starred Dante Cappelli, Maria Caserini, Amleto Palormi, and Ettore Pesci. The running time is 16 minutes and it is a

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

film. The opening scene of the film "breaks the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

" by showing the reel of the film but also "opens a portal to the supernatural world of the witches", according to Isabel Karremann.

Main cast

* Dante Cappelli as Macbeth * Maria Caserini as Lady Macbeth * Amleto Palormi *Ettore Pesci

References

* Films based on Macbeth 1909 films Italian historical drama films Italian silent short films Italian black-and-white films 1900s historical drama films Films set in Scotland Films directed by Mario Caserini Silent Italian drama films {{historic-film-stub